Joseph Neeld

Joseph Neeld (1789–1856) was Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the rotten borough of Gatton, Surrey from March to July 1830{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-joseph-neeld |title=Mr Joseph Neeld (Hansard) |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=2020-06-30}} and for Chippenham, Wiltshire, England from September 1830 to March 1856.{{cite book |last1=Stooks Smith |first1=Henry |title=The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive |date=1845 |publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. |location=London |pages=108–110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HacQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA108 |via=Google Books |access-date=18 August 2018}}

Career

Neeld was one of five brothers born to Joseph Neeld (1754–1828), a solicitor{{cite web|url=http://bookplate-jvarnoso.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html|title=Ex Libris//Bookplates: December 2007|publisher=bookplate-jvarnoso.blogspot.com|accessdate=2009-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708025721/http://bookplate-jvarnoso.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html|archive-date=8 July 2011|url-status=dead}} and Mary (née Bond) (1765–1857); the family lived in Hendon, Middlesex.{{cite web

|url=http://notableneelds.com/

|title=Notable Neelds

|publisher=notableneelds.com

|accessdate=2009-03-09

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128163622/http://notableneelds.com/

|archivedate=28 January 2011

}}

He seems to have qualified as a barrister of the Inner Temple

{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lW4EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA330

|title=The Annual Biography and Obituary – Google Book Search |year=1828 |accessdate=2009-03-09}} but it is known that he set out on a career in property management; in 1821 he took a lease on land in Paddington owned by Westminster Abbey.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22670 |title=Paddington – Manors and Other Estates | work=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust|accessdate=2009-03-09}}

In 1828, he inherited the substantial sum of £800,000 from his famous great-uncle, Philip Rundell the silversmith, described by James Losh as a "tyrannical miser". The will stated this was a reward to Neeld for giving up a "lucrative profession" to take care of Rundell for thirteen years.{{cite book | title = The Annual Biography and obituary for the Year 1828| last = Unknown | year = 1828|publisher = Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green| location = London | page = 20 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A9sKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA329 }} With this bequest, Neeld bought the manor of Grittleton, about six miles northwest of Chippenham.{{cite web|url=http://www.grittletonhouse.co.uk/history.php |title=Grittleton House – History |publisher=grittletonhouse.co.uk |accessdate=2009-03-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312045913/http://www.grittletonhouse.co.uk/history.php |archivedate=12 March 2009 }} He spent from 8 March to 30 July 1830 as Member of Parliament for Gatton,{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/constituencies/gatton-surrey |title=Gatton (Surrey) 1660–1832|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=2009-03-09}} a rotten borough with six houses and one elector but returning two Members,{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42955 |title=Parishes – Gatton |publisher=British History Online |accessdate=2010-10-14 }} which was abolished by the Reform Act 1832. Later in 1830 he was elected to represent Chippenham.

Also in 1828, the year that he bought Grittleton, Neeld also bought Kelston Park, a 1760s country house and estate just west of Bath. He made alterations to the house and outbuildings, but in 1844 the estate was transferred to his relatives the Inigo-Jones family.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1000536|desc=Kelston Park (Park and Garden)|access-date=17 June 2021}}

He married Lady Caroline Ashley Cooper, daughter of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury on 1 January 1831; however, the marriage did not last for long. This led to a series of legal disputes which ended with Lady Caroline failing to achieve a divorce, but being granted a legal separation. It had been revealed that Neeld already had a daughter by a French woman, and thus at his death Neeld had no legitimate heirs.

From 1832, Neeld began the reconstruction of Grittleton House in Victorian Gothic revival style, and set about furnishing it with an extensive collection of antiques and paintings. He was also a philanthropist, donating about £12,000 for the construction of Chippenham Town Hall,{{National Heritage List for England|num=1268113|desc=New Town Hall and Neeld Hall|access-date=21 January 2017|fewer-links=yes}} and building houses in Grittleton for his tenants. Elsewhere in Grittleton parish, at Leigh Delamere he commissioned the rebuilding of St Margaret of Antioch Church (1846){{cite web|title=St Margaret of Antioch, Leigh Delamere|url=https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/church-listing/st-margaret-leigh-delamere.html|publisher=Churches Conservation Trust|accessdate=17 June 2021}}{{NHLE|desc=Church of St Margaret|num=1022289|accessdate=7 October 2010|fewer-links=yes}} and a row of almshouses (1848).{{National Heritage List for England|num=1022291|desc=The Almshouses|accessdate=21 January 2017|fewer-links=yes}}

His Parliamentary career was less successful; despite being a Member of Parliament for nearly 24 years, he spoke not once in the House of Commons.

Death and legacy

Neeld died on 24 March 1856, causing a by-election in Chippenham. Leaving no legitimate heirs, he willed his property to his brother John (who in 1859 was created 1st Baronet Neeld, of Grittleton, and was elected MP for Chippenham 1865–1868).

File:NeeldPlaque.jpg

Joseph's name is commemorated in the Neeld Hall in Chippenham, as well as a row of cottages in Hendon which was built in 1870. In Grittleton, his name lives on in the name of the village pub, the Neeld Arms, and in the east window of the church of St Mary the Virgin, accompanied by a plaque stating the window to have been "erected and dedicated by his (18) Friends and Tenants (71)". In Maida Hill, North Westminster, formerly the Borough of Paddington, there are also a Neeld Arms{{Cite web|url=http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NIG2LKRPJ0L00|title=Planning application 15/00428/FULL|date=March 2015|website=City of Westminster: Planning|language=en-uk|access-date=21 January 2017}} and a Grittleton Road.

Neeld's art collection was split up, some pieces now being in the National Portrait Gallery{{cite web|url=http://89.234.0.17/collections/search/portrait.php?search=as&occ=15%3BCrafts+and+Practical+Arts&lDate=&LinkID=mp00213&rNo=8&role=art|title=Portrait NPG 6365; Philip Rundell|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|accessdate=2009-03-09|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531135104/http://89.234.0.17/collections/search/portrait.php?search=as&occ=15%3BCrafts+and+Practical+Arts&lDate=&LinkID=mp00213&rNo=8&role=art|archivedate=31 May 2011}} and some in the Victoria and Albert Museum.{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/indexplus/print/2006AV6379.html|title=Maternal Affection, sculpture group in marble|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|accessdate=2009-03-09}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} A 1669 self-portrait in oil by Rembrandt remained at Grittleton House for some years, passed through several owners including Adolf Hitler, then in 1947 was bought by the Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands.{{Cite web|title=Details: Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1669|url=https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/selfportrait-840/detailgegevens/|access-date=2021-06-17|website=Mauritshuis}}

References

External links

{{cite web |title=NEELD, Joseph (1789–1856) |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/neeld-joseph-1789-1856 |website=History of Parliament Online |accessdate=3 March 2019}}
{{Hansard-contribs | mr-joseph-neeld | Joseph Neeld }}

{{s-bef

| before = William Scott

| before2 = Michael George Prendergast

}}

{{s-title

| title = Member of Parliament for Gatton

| years = 1830

| with = Michael George Prendergast

}}

{{s-aft

| after = John Shelley

| after2 = John Thomas Hope